Personhood founder’s home attacked at night, children terrorized

DENVER, CO, July 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - From the gunning down of a pro-life picketer in Michigan in 2009, to the filmed attack on pro-lifers in New Mexico in 2011, to another filmed attack in Washington last week, violent assault against pro-life Americans are on the rise.

Another pro-lifer was attacked last Tuesday, but this time at his home, with his wife and children terrorized in the middle of the night.

Personhood USA Founder and President Keith Mason and his wife Jennifer have three young children from eight years old on down, and a fourth child due next month. That didn’t stop pro-abortion vandals from throwing a heavy rock through his front door window at 1:30 am, or from spraypainting his house with vulgarities and images of coat hangers.

The attack likely stemmed from an article featuring the couple in Newsweek magazine which hit the stands last Monday. The article related the successes of the Personhood movement, noting that related measures have been introduced 22 times in the campaign’s four-year history, and quoted pro-abortion leaders who note that the movement presents a “formidable” problem.

“They’re saying out loud what many anti-choice activists believe but don’t say upfront—they want to ban abortion in all circumstances,” Donna Crane, a policy director at the advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Newsweek. “In some ways, it’s the more honest conversation to have.”

Mason told LifeSiteNews in a phone interview this morning that just after the Newsweek piece went online, the comment board – which is now closed - “went crazy.”

“One of the early comments,” recalled Mason, “was that my wife should be raped and forced to carry the baby.” Another he remembered, called for him to be neutered and killed.

The comments continued to get more and more bizarre. And then someone posted the couple’s home address in the comment section of the story.

“The article does state that we have three small children, and that my wife is due to deliver our fourth child very soon,” said Mason. “It is shocking to consider that someone would be so cruel and heartless to attack a home with a pregnant woman and small children inside. Apparently, the pro-choice crowd has no more compassion for born children than they do for the preborn.”

At 1:30 am, as the rest of his family slept, Mason was in his basement when he heard a huge crash. He raced upstairs thinking that perhaps one of the children had fallen down the stairs.

As he crossed the front hall he found himself walking through shattered glass. Glass was scattered everywhere throughout their living room and across the front porch, covering their children’s toys and items for the new baby, he said.

When he saw the large rock that had caused the damage, he ran upstairs to check on his distraught family. He then headed for the door and found the front and side walls of his house full of vulgar graffiti, but no perpetrators.

Police responded immediately with four squad cars, and an investigation continues.

Mason said he could not share his ordeal until today, since he had to move his family to a safe-house, having been warned by security that their lives may be in danger. He is currently looking for a new home for his young family.

Rather than making him re-think his activism, he said, the incident has left him more committed than ever. “Things like this are intended to discourage,” he said. “We’re not going to quit. I think it’s strengthened my resolve and to me it’s an indication that we’re winning.”

Asked point blank if he were willing to lose his life for the cause, the father of four replied, “I’m not hoping it goes there, man. Yeah, I don’t want to, but I’m willing.”

“There are some pretty intense times, the world is at a critical moment,” he said.

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